♦ The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) has officially come into force as a treaty-based, inter-governmental organisation, becoming a fully functional international legal entity.
♦ The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), acting as the Depository for the Framework Agreement, confirmed that five countries – the Republic of Nicaragua, the Kingdom of Eswatini, the Republic of India, the Federal Republic of Somalia, and the Republic of Liberia – have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, or approval, making them the founding members of the IBCA.
♦ The IBCA was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 9, 2023, during an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger.
♦ The initiative’s main objective is the conservation of seven major big cat species: the Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar, and Puma.
♦ In a cabinet meeting on 29 February 29 2024, the government officially approved the establishment of the IBCA, with its headquarters based in India.
♦ The establishment of the IBCA was spearheaded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a nodal organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC).
♦ As of now, 27 countries, including India, have agreed to join the IBCA, along with several international and national organizations dedicated to wildlife conservation.
Posted Date: February 4, 2025International
♦ US President Donald Trump announced that the United States will introduce a “Gold Card” programme for wealthy foreigners, granting them the right to live and work in the country, with a pathway to citizenship, in exchange for a USD 5 million fee.
♦ The Gold Card will replace the existing EB-5 immigrant investor visa program.
Posted Date: February 26, 2025♦ The opposition conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Friedrich Merz have won Germany’s national election.
♦ CDU and the Bavarian party Christian Social Union (CSU), secured 28.6 percent of the vote.
♦ The Cristian Democrats will look to form a coalition government with outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD).
♦ While the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged into second with 20.8 percent.
♦ The Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) came in third with just 16.4 percent, a nearly 10-point drop from their first-place finish in 2021.
♦ Friedrich Merz, will likely be Germany’s next chancellor.
♦ As a result, the CDU/CSU partnership is projected to secure 208 seats in the Bundestag, the German parliament, the AfD 152, the SPD 120, the Greens 85 and The Left 64.
Posted Date: February 24, 2025♦ Indian-American Kash Patel was officially sworn in as the ninth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on 21 February 2025.
♦ The oath was administered at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
♦ Patel succeeded Christopher Wray.
Posted Date: February 21, 2025♦ Bloomberg released the Top 20 Richest Families in Asia 2025 on February 13. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and CEO of Reliance Industries, and his family top the list with USD 90.5 billion in wealth. Thailand’s Chearavanont family ranked second with $42.6 billion through its Charoen Pokphand conglomerate, which spans food, retail, and telecom businesses across Asia. Ranked third, the Hartono family of Indonesia, with a net worth of $42.2 billion, made its fortune in banking, primarily through Bank Central Asia, and from its origins in the tobacco industry.
♦ India’s Mistry family, with a combined wealth of $37.5 billion ranked fourth in the list. The Mistry family holds a significant stake in Tata Sons as well as controlling Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
♦ The Jindal family comes seventh with $28.1 billion, a fortune derived from their diversified conglomerate, the OP Jindal Group, with interests in energy, cement, and sports.
♦ Birla family, ranks ninth with a net worth of $23 billion with business interests spanning seven generations, including sectors like metals, cement, and financial services.
Top 10 richest families in Asia
| Rank | Family Name | Business Group | Country |
| 1 | Ambanis | Reliance Industries | India |
| 2 | Chearavanonts | Charoen Pokphand Group | Thailand |
| 3 | Hartonos | Djarum, Bank Central Asia | Indonesia |
| 4 | Mistrys | Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Tata Sons | India |
| 5 | Kwoks | Sun Hung Kai Properties | Hong Kong |
| 6 | Tsai | Cathay Financial, Fubon Financial | Taiwan |
| 7 | Jindals | OP Jindal Group | India |
| 8 | Yoovidhyas | TCP Group (Red Bull) | Thailand |
| 9 | Birlas | Aditya Birla Group | India |
| 10 | Lees | Samsung | South Korea |
♦ Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed as America’s new Director of National Intelligence (DNI) under the Trump administration on 12 February 2025.
♦ The Senate voted 52 to 48, mostly along party lines, to confirm Gabbard to the position overseeing the 18-agency intelligence community and acting as Trump's top adviser on intelligence issues.
♦ Tulsi Gabbard left the Democratic party in 2022 and registered as an independent. She endorsed Trump several months before the election and officially joined the Republican party in October 2024.
Posted Date: February 12, 2025♦ Greece’s parliament elected its former speaker, Constantine Tassoulas as the country’s president on 12 February 2025.
♦ He is a lawyer and a lawmaker since 2000 and has previously served as Greece’s Culture Minister and Deputy Defence Minister, won the backing of 160 lawmakers in vote in the 300-seat parliament.
♦ He will succeed Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Greece’s first female president, whose five-year term expires in March, 2025.
♦ Tassoulas will be sworn in as head of state on 13 March 2025.
Posted Date: February 12, 2025♦ India ranked 96 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2024 as its overall score dropped a point to 38. Transparency International released this index on 11 February 2025.
♦ The index ranks countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, using a scale of zero to 100, where "zero" is highly corrupt and "100" is very clean.
♦ In 2024, India's overall score was 38 while it was 39 in 2023 and 40 in 2022. India's rank in 2023 was 93.
♦ Among India's neighbours, Pakistan (135) and Sri Lanka (121) grappled with their respective low rankings, while Bangladesh's ranking stood further down at 149. China ranked 76.
♦ Denmark topped the list of being the least-corrupt nation, followed by Finland and Singapore.
Posted Date: February 11, 2025The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) signed an agreement with the Korea Transport Institute (KoTI), Republic of Korea (RoK) on 10 February 2025 to enhance cooperation in logistics and infrastructure development. The MoU was signed at the Sejong National Research Complex, South Korea by Mr. Youngchan Kim, President of KOTI, and H.E. Amit Kumar, Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea.
♦ The MoU will enhance cooperation in logistics and infrastructure development, leveraging KOTI's expertise to support India’s ambitious infrastructure initiatives. Joint working meetings will be held for taking the initiative forward.
♦ The key benefits of this collaboration include the establishment of a research-driven program that enhances expertise in logistics and infrastructure through knowledge exchange, training, and technical assistance. It will also foster cross-learning in areas such as master planning, technology adoption, and innovation. Additionally, the partnership will highlight the achievements under the PM GatiShakti initiative and promote GIS data-based technology on a global stage.
Posted Date: February 11, 2025♦ India has retained its third position on the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) annual list of the top 10 countries and regions for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in 2024.
♦ 370 projects, covering 8.5 million gross square meters (GSM), were certified for LEED in India.
♦ China topped the rankings with over 25 million GSM certified, followed by Canada with 10 million GSM.
♦ This recognition reflects India's commitment to adopting sustainable and resilient building practices and contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.
♦ LEED certifications in India are managed by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), which supports the country’s green building movement.
Posted Date: February 9, 2025♦ Lebanon has formed its first full-fledged government since 2022, ending a prolonged deadlock, with Nawaf Salam assuming the role of Prime Minister on 8 February 2025.
♦ President Joseph Aoun confirmed in a statement that he accepted the resignation of the previous caretaker government and signed a decree appointing Prime Minister Salam’s new administration.
♦ Nawaf Salam is a former president of the International Court of Justice.
♦ The new cabinet, comprising 24 ministers evenly split between Christian and Muslim sects, was formed in less than a month after Mr. Salam’s appointment.
Posted Date: February 8, 2025♦ Scientists from the University of Queensland, Australia have successfully created the first-ever kangaroo embryos using in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
♦ This achievement marks the first time a kangaroo embryo has been produced through intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a technique widely used in human fertility treatments.
♦ IVF is being explored around the world for conserving endangered species. In January 2024, scientists in Germany transferred a rhino embryo, the world's first produced through IVF, into a surrogate.
Posted Date: February 7, 2025♦ Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Dmitry Bakanov as the new director general of Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos on 6 February 2025.
♦ He takes over from Yury Borisov, who led Roscosmos since 2022.
♦ Before this role, Bakanov served as deputy minister of transport.
♦ He was the head of the Gonets satellite system company from 2011 to 2019 before becoming deputy minister of transport.
Posted Date: February 6, 2025♦ Britain will become the first country to introduce laws against AI tools used to generate sexual abuse images, the government announced.
♦ The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualised images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper revealed.
♦ AI-generated CSAM includes images and videos of child sexual abuse that have been partially or completely created using text-to-image generation tools.
♦ AI-generated CSAM has risen 380 per cent, with 245 confirmed reports in 2024 compared with 51 reports in 2023, according to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) data.
Posted Date: February 5, 2025♦ Former German President Horst Köhler died in Berlin on 1 February 2025. He was 81. He was President of Germany between 2004 and 2010. Köhler served as the UN’s Sahara envoy from 2017 until May 2019.
♦ Horst Köhler was born Feb. 22, 1943, in Skierbieszow, Poland
♦ In 2000, Köhler emerged as Schröder's backup choice for the IMF leadership.
Posted Date: February 1, 2025